Update: The Blog So Far

Hello Everyone,

It’s been seven months, fifty-four posts and sixteen thousand views since I started this blog, and I’ve learned quite a bit so far. First of all, there are a surprising number of people who google ‘Guns used during the Great Depression.‘ Second, if you have a nifty stock image on one of your pages, there are people who will look at that to the exclusion of everything else you post. Third, people are much less interested in my rambling annecdotes than I am, but –as it is my blog– you can expect a lot more of those in the future.

I’ve had a number of pleasant surprises to date. Thanks to my post about one of my ancestors founding the town of Kenmore, Ontario, I got in touch with a 102-year-old fourth-cousin four-times removed who’s helping me untangle some of my family tree. My deep appreciation for the Beatles on Ukulele project has actually put me in contact with the organizers and some of the artists. Finally, people love to read about a white guy dancing.

I’ve also learned a couple of things about my own writing habits. If I don’t sit down and write whatever took my fancy in that exact moment, the post never makes it to the blog. That’s why this site has fifty-four posts and not two hundred. Also, no matter how many times I proof something, I will catch a mistake (usually a missing word or a ‘to’ instead of a ‘the’) in every single article I read. I can only beg your patience with newer posts. I discover and correct my typos in due time.

There will be a new facet coming soon to this website: I’m about to start an exciting new job, that will soon include regular travel throughout Canada. Aside from killing time in various airports and hotels with blogging, I expect I’ll start writing a bit about where I go and what I see. I can’t make any promises as to the regularity or content of those posts, but I can guarantee they will continue to be held up to my own high standards of, “Well, this is vaguely interesting or amusing to me.”

A lot of the feedback I have gotten to date has been positive. A good chunk of it may well be spammers giving generic compliments so they embed a link. I’m still figuring that out. I would like to encourage anyone –and especially repeat readers– to add a comment whenever the spirit moves you. I can tailor some of my future content towards what is well received, and I can do my best to filter out that which people find dull or tedious. This blog may be my outlet, but as it’s an outlet for your appreciation, I’ll do what I can to give value for your visits.